12 Day old nursing difficulties

[rachelleigh]

I am so frustrated and sad and confused...

My LO who is 12 days old and I are having such a hard time BF. I would like to EBF, with occasional bottles of pumped milk so DH can help out. That is my goal and I thought I'd be there from day 1... I was so unprepared for how difficult this would be.

LO did not latch on right away and we spent the first 24 hours hand expressing colostrum and feeding with a spoon, then the next 24 pumping and feeding with a spoon. We saw a lactation consultant at the hospital the day he was born but she wasn't a whole lot of help. I have one "shy," but not totally inverted nipple and so was given a nipple shield. We continued to try to nurse and continued supplementing. We saw another lactation consultant at 2 days old and he had lost 8% of his birth weight. We were given a syringe with a tiny tube that went into a nipple shield to supplement pumped milk while he nursed. We went back again the next day and his weight was about the same (but at least it hadn't gone down). The nurse said she suspected a posterior tongue tie but wanted the nurse practitioner to see it so we had another appt with her... Nurse pract. also thought possible tongue tie and told us to get bottles to supplement instead of the syringe. She also showed us finger feeding. She talked about a frenectomy but thought it might be best to wait a few days to get his weight up... Had another appt the 29th with a different nurse... He was only 1.5oz away from being back at birth weight so the nursing-breast milk bottle-pumping routine had been successful for that. She put us on a waiting list to see a tongue tie specialist for yesterday but we weren't able to get an appt... Called today and finally got another appt with the nurse practitioner for another evaluation/possible frenectomy. Oh, but pediatrician didn't think there was an obvious tongue tie, just that he was "bitey" and might just grow out of it.

Hope all that made sense... Anyway, 8 times a day I've been struggling to get him to latch on and nurse... When he does get on he nurses for like 1.5 hours... I end up stopping him short and feeding him the bottle of expressed milk because I know he's not getting much. His latch is shallow or the nipple shield keeps falling off, he falls asleep constantly, etc. Then I pump for 15 mins... Then it's practically time for him to eat again. I'm so worn out, have been crying all day today and just feel so defeated. If they no longer suspect tongue tie tomorrow or do a frenectomy but it doesn't fix his latch I just don't know what to do. I want to BF so badly... I'm already scared my supply has been affected. I feel so guilty the past two nights when he wakes up and gets so frustrated trying to latch we've just given him a bottle of my milk... I know I should be trying harder to nurse. I'm also afraid of nipple confusion...

Anyway this is probably not even coherent as I'm on my phone and also completely exhausted. I would love some encouragement, similar stories, tongue tie success stories...

Wish us luck at our appt tomorrow...

 

[Dream.dream]

I just had my SOns tounge tie clipped last week and it's night and day difference . His the regular doctor didn't think wa a problem but when the specialist saw him she said it was severe and she was surprised he could eat.

Before he was eating every 1-2 hours for 30 minutes and if have to pump after as he wasn't drawing the milk out enough , and I produce a lot of milk. and now he eats for 10-15 minutes and is good for 2-3 hours and I don't have to pump

I would push for the tongue tie I that's what you think it is . Look at babies tongue yourself and see if he has a heart shaped tongue? Can he stick his tongue out past his lip? Look unde and see if you can see the frenulum . If he does push the doctors tell them your determined to breast feed and he needs it

 

[thayet]

Oh I am *so* right there with you right now. LO is 14 days old today and we are struggling with the exact same problems as you. Initially my latch was crap and nobody caught it, so I ended up with nipples that were ripped apart. I got a shield after the first week, which my LC has helped me since get off, but my supply is suffering and LO is not getting enough from me, which means I can't EBF. That means pumping in between each (45 min-1 hour) feed, and taking massive amounts of herbals to try and increase my supply. I don't sleep, I'm exhausted and I feel like a crappy mother. I caught myself yelling at LO today because he kept turning his head and breaking latch (and re-latching is so so painful).. it's terrible. He's still not up to birth weight and even supplementing with formula via bottle or SNS is not working.

If you want to keep in touch it would be great to share tips and support with someone in the same boat.. I hope your appointment goes well! LO is getting weighed in an hour or so, if he's not up to birth weight we might have to do full formula feeds and I dread it so much.

Edited to add: pumping is the best way to increase supply, my LC tells me, so as long as you're nursing him as much as you can bear and pumping your supply should increase. As for the tongue tie, don't wait to get it checked out.. as pp said, it might make all the difference. As for the shield falling off, try a bit of lanolin around the edge to keep it on, or stretch it gently across the nipple. I found that keeping it *really* clean (soap and hot water) helps it stick, too.